Update (11/22): Bumped to the top. Along with the shop maintenance below, there will also be Splatoon maintenance on Monday at the following times:
– 5 PM PT – 6 PM PT
– 8 PM ET – 9 PM ET
– 1 AM in the UK (Tuesday) – 2 AM in the UK (Tuesday)
– 2 AM in Europe (Tuesday) – 3 AM in Europe (Tuesday)
Original (11/19): Nintendo is planning another round of shop maintenance for Monday. The Wii U and 3DS eShops, Wii Shopping Channel, and DSi Shop will be down per usual.
All shops will be unavailable at the following times:
– 12 PM PT – 4 PM PT
– 3 PM ET – 7 PM ET
– 8 PM in the UK – 12 AM in the UK (Tuesday)
– 9 PM in Europe – 1 AM in Europe (Tuesday)
Yoshi’s inclusion in Super Mario Maker partially came about thanks to the involvement of producer Takashi Tezuka. In a recent issue of Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, Tezuka and director Yosuke Oshino spoke about his appearance in the game:
Oshino: We decided to put in characteristic actions like Raccoon Mario, Caped Mario and Propeller Mario during the first phases of development. But Yoshi had much controversy…
Tezuka: I was a bit pushy in requesting to have Yoshi. There were reasons like being responsible for the Wii U game Yoshi’s Woolly World, wanting to use the Yoshi amiibo, and wanting to have some kind of collaboration as it is also Yoshi’s 25th anniversary.
Oshino: But adding Yoshi was complicated, so we discussed what should we do.
Last July, Teyon published the fantastic side-scrolling shooter Steel Empire on the North American 3DS eShop. Well over a year later, the title finally appears to be coming to Europe.
The USK, Germany’s ratings board, recently added in an entry for Steel Empire. That would suggest a European release is coming soon. If we hear anything official from Teyon, we’ll let you know.
Bandai Namco recently put out a commercial for Taiko Drum Master: Atsumete Tomodachi Daisakusen. You can watch it below.
13AM Games is hard at work on another update for Runbow. This one will be adding some new online functionality and more.
When the patch goes live, Runbow will allow for 2-player matchmaking via the Internet. This is in hopes of addressing issues some gamers have encountered in finding others to play with online. New fixes have also been implemented, and there’s “something little” which will “give you a hint about what’s to come.”
Here’s the full rundown of the new update from 13AM Games:
Nintendo hosted another Splatfest in Splatoon this weekend, but only in Japan. For those that missed it, players could choose between either mountain food or seafood.
This Splatfest just ended a little while ago. Even though the two sides were extremely close in votes, wins, and total points, it was seafood that secured the win. Seafood managed to obtain 358 points compared to mountain food’s total of 342.
Nintendo has one more big Wii U game due out in the west this year: Xenoblade Chronicles X. The massive RPG will be released towards the very beginning of next month.
Speaking with MCV, Nintendo UK product manager Gemma Hall sounded off on who Xenoblade Chronicles X is intended for, and how the company will go about marketing the title:
“Xenoblade Chronicles X will speak to anyone who loves epic RPGs, as it has everything you could want from a big sweeping sci-fi adventure, with rich diverse landscapes, deep customization options, a unique battling system, and a host of memorable characters. We are therefore not only targeting it towards fans of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, but to broader JRPG fans looking for their next epic RPG adventure. The game is visually sumptuous and will demand the attention of genre fans.
We will be focusing activity initially around Xenoblade Chronicles fans, and then broadening out to wider RPG fans with a tightly targeted digital campaign. Due to the highly visual nature of this game, we are concentrating on video formats that show off the many stunning facets of the title, including the huge open world, giant alien monsters, and the awesome Skell transformations.
We have a wealth of Wii U games that will be part of our Christmas campaign, including Splatoon and Super Mario Maker. However, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a more serious RPG offering, with stunning graphics and sweeping sci-fi story, and so we expect this to open up the Wii U to the more hardcore RPG audience who won’t want to miss out on this future genre classic.”
A pair of new statues based on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword came out at GameStop and EB Games just a few days ago. There’s one featuring Link as well as the robotic, skeletal pirate Scervo. Pricing is set at $79.99 ($119.99 CAD) and $124.99 ($139.99 CAD) respectively.
If you’re in North America, you can order the statues here. Canadian gamers can grab them here.
Two Nintendo deals are up on Walmart. The Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer New 3DS bundle is on sale for $179, a $41 discount. You can also save $51 on the Electric Blue and Crimson Red 2DS systems, which are $79 each.
Japan’s Splatoon art book has all sorts of lovely goodies. A couple of weeks back, an image surfaced of unused urinal warp zones. That isn’t the only interesting find from the book though.
Above is a look at an area left on the cutting room floor. At one point, the developers were toying around with an idea for a coal mine. While it didn’t make it into the final game, it could be neat to see it implemented somehow in the future!
